First Authored Paper Arjan Banarjee, PhD student, from Stefanovic Lab

Caught in action: fine-scale plastome evolution in the parasitic plants of Cuscuta sect. Ceratophorae (Convolvulaceae)

A comprehensive analysis of a group of parasitic dodders explores the patterns of molecular evolution associated with the loss of photosynthesis in the plastid genomes (plastomes) of such plants. This group was chosen because of the remarkable variation on display between the plastomes of very closely related species. We find that evolution in this group seems to exhibit features of both gradual and punctuated change with plastomes in three species being far more reduced than the others. Assembled plastid genomes from the eight species were used to create a step-by-step model of gene losses and structural changes in these plants, and this model was compared to evolution observed in other groups of heterotrophic plants under similar selective pressures.